A conventional high speed printer has limited ability to change print modes during the printing process while retaining the ability to produce printed recording medium at a high rate of sheets per minute. This limited flexibility is a problem when a desired print job must contain a variety of print recording medium types where different recording medium types require a change in imaging or printing parameters. The high rate of sheets per minute creates a situation where the image to be printed may already be on the imaging drum before a print recording medium sensor can sense the type of recording medium upon which the image is to be printed.
The ability to print in various modes is a conventional printer feature. For example, a printer user may be presented with mode choices such as: draft, fast color, enhanced color, or photograph. Further, a conventional printer may provide recording medium settings such as: paper or transparency. Any of these settings may be selected by the user at some point in the process of setting up a print job.
The proper combination of settings produces the best image vibrancy and durability for the print medium being used. For example, in a solid ink color printer, different amounts of ink are needed depending on the background color of the print recording medium. Conventionally, more coverage is needed (requiring more ink) for a transparency since light will penetrate the transparency to produce the image. On the other hand, white paper provides a reflecting background and the appropriate color gamut can be generated with much less ink coverage compared to that needed with a transparency.
A problem arises when a setting selected by a user is incompatible with the actual print medium that is being used. For example, a user may desire to print a paper set of transparencies so as to be distributed to the attendees of a presentation. However, instead of using the printer driver, most customers choose to just insert the transparencies into the printer and print as if it was a paper job. This causes the job to print in paper mode vs. transparency mode, which results in an unnecessary degradation in print quality.
Another example of a problem of a setting selected by a user being incompatible with the actual print medium is the printing of an image on photographic paper. As noted above, human error, due to a failure to change the mode of the printer to a photographic paper mode, may cause the printing of the image in paper mode rather than photographic paper mode, thereby resulting in an unnecessary degradation in print quality.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a print system wherein instead of having the user program the recording medium mode settings, a user only needs to load the recording medium into the printer and the proper mode is automatically used to print on the job. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a printer that senses the type of recording medium being used, and based upon the sensed recording medium type adjust parameters of the printing process; e.g., adjusting the image already on the imaging drum; adjusting the transfer properties such as the transfix speed (velocity), drum temperature, media preheat temperature, or nip pressure; adjusting ink coverage; adjusting the amount of marking material used to render the image; and/or adjusting the drum's electrical parameters, etc.